After flood repairs, Old Highway 86 Campground back in service

Jun. 6, 2013

All 77 campsites at the Old 86 Campground now have water and electrical hookups. / U.S. Army Corps of Engineers

Written by

Wes

JOHNSON

Campers fill the newly renovated Old 86 Campground at Table Rock Lake. The campground was significantly damaged by floodwater in 2011. / U.S. Army Corps of Engineers

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Link to a map of the campground: http://www.recreation.gov/webphotos/facilitymaps/71320_OL86.pdf

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One of the more popular camping areas at Table Rock Lake was out of commission for all of 2012, after floods in 2011 damaged major portions of it.

But the Old Highway 86 Campground is now back in service, with lots of new amenities and more camping spots to accommodate campers who are pitching a tent to those with big air-conditioned RV units.

Park Ranger Rodney Raley said the renovated campsite was full over the Memorial Day weekend, and likely will be again on the next two major summer holidays coming up — Fourth of July and Labor Day.

“It’s good to make your reservations well in advance, but during the weeks in between the major holidays, there usually are spots available,” Raley said. “You can usually expect to get a reservation except for those holidays because they fill up very early.”

High water in 2011 pushed Table Rock to a record record elevation of 935.47 feet on April 27, 2011. For perspective, the lake’s normal conservation pool is at 915 feet. Raley said the 2011 floodwater washed away many of the landscaping timbers used to designate campsites and damaged many of the electrical hookups when they were submerged for days.

Flooding also washed out big sections of paved road leading to many of the campsites. That’s all been replaced now, and where 30 campsites had water and electrical hookups before, now all 77 do.

Raley also said the old electrical hookups only provided 30 amps of power. That’s been upgraded to 50 amps to accommodate modern RV campers that typically have air conditioning units, as well as modern conveniences like microwaves, computers and televisions. Clearly, not everyone wants to get away from it all when they go camping.

“We also had six other campsites that were damaged in the flood, and were in an area that would probably flood again,” Raley said. “So we relocated them to Old 86, giving us 77 campsites, all with water and electricity.”

The $1.3 million makeover also added a bathroom, so the campsite now has three bathrooms and an additional bathroom offering hot showers. There’s also a designated swimming beach that was cleaned up after the flood. It’s still swim at your own risk because there are no lifeguards on duty.

Raley said many of the campsites adjoin the lake, and campers often bring their boats and pull them up on shore behind their camping spots for quick and easy access to the water. Boats, of course, are barred from entering the swim beach area.

As summer heats up, it might be worth making a reservation online at www.reserveusa.com, or calling the toll-free reservation line at 877-44-6777 to get an Old Highway 86 campsite to help you cool off.

Have a good idea for a Lake Life column? Contact Outdoors writer Wes Johnson at 417-836-1243, or at wjohnson@news-leader.com.